Lira slump continues to spook investors

Lira slump continues to spook investors

Banks dragged European shares down yesterday as a growing economic crisis in Turkey shook investor confidence in lenders exposed to the country, while pharmaceuticals group Bayer sank more than 10pc after its subsidiary Monsanto lost a key lawsuit.

The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.25pc to a three-week low.

Bayer was the worst performer, falling after Monsanto, the US agriculture giant it acquired in June, was ordered to pay damages in a lawsuit alleging its glyphosate weedkiller caused a man’s cancer.

“With several other similar cases up for hearing, we expect this to be an overhang on the stock,” said Goldman Sachs analysts.

Eurozone bank stocks tumbled as much as 1.3pc to a six-week low as Turkey-exposed banks BBVA, Unicredit and BNP Paribas all declined.

A growing economic crisis in Turkey, which took the lira to a new record low of 7.24 to the dollar overnight yesterday, has spurred selling across global markets with some contagion to other emerging markets.

In Ireland, the ISEQ Overall Index was an outlier in Europe yesterday, ending the session barely up at 6,686.68.

Shares in Ryanair added 3pc to €13.37 as talks got under way in Dublin between its pilot union and management after damaging strikes for the airline.

Dublin-listed shares in food group Aryzta slumped 11.7pc to €7.15 as it announced an €800m rights issue.

Shares in drilling equipment firm Mincon rose 4.78pc to €1.71 after a solid set of interim results.

The UK’s FTSE-100 was down 0.32pc yesterday. Germany’s DAX fell 0.53pc and France’s CAC-40 was flat.